http://hdl.handle.net/10468/140 Sun, 29 Oct 2017 21:40:22 GMT 2017-10-29T21:40:22Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/3687 Mobile cloud healthcare systems using the concept of point–of–care Alshareef, Hazzaa Naif Recent years have witnessed a rapid growth in delivering/accessing healthcare services on mobile devices. An example of a health practice/application that is benefiting from the mobile evolution is m–health, which is aimed at providing health services to mobile devices on the move. However, mobile devices have restricted computational and storage capacity, and run on batteries that have limited power. These limitations render m–health unable to run the demanding tasks that may be required for accessing/providing health services. The mobile cloud has recently been proposed as a solution for dealing with some of the limitations of mobile devices, such as low storage and computing capacity. However, introducing this solution into the m–health field is not straightforward, as the integration of this technology has specific limitations, such as disconnection issues and concerns over privacy and security. This thesis presents research work investigating the ability to introduce mobile cloud computing technology into the health field (e.g., m–health) to increase the chances of survival in cases of emergencies. This work focuses on providing help to people in emergencies by allowing them to seek/access help via mobile devices reliably and confidently, as well as the ability to build a communication platform between people who require help and professionals who are trusted and qualified to provide it. The concept of point–of–care has been used here, which means providing as much medical support to the public as possible where and when it is needed. This thesis proposes a mobile cloud middleware solution that enhances connectivity aspects by allowing users to create/join a mobile ad–hoc network (MANET) to seek help in the case of emergencies. On the other side, the cloud can reach users who do not have a direct link to the cloud or an Internet connection. The most important advantage of combining a MANET and a mobile cloud is that management tasks such as IP allocation and split/merge operations are shifted to the cloud, which means resources are saved on the mobile side. In addition, two mobile cloud services were designed which have the aim of interacting with users to facilitate help to be provided swiftly in the case of emergencies. The system was deployed and tested on Amazon EC2 cloud and Android–based mobile devices. Experimental results and the reference architecture show that the proposed middleware is feasible and meets pre–defined requirements, such as enhancing the robustness and reliability of the system. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10468/3687 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/3861 Exploring the role of core IS capabilities throughout the IS/IT service co-production lifecycle Kasraian, Laleh The main challenge in service co-production is how a firm’s project team may accomplish service design and modifications efficiently and quickly enough to meet the customers’ expectations within a definite timeframe. With respect to the extant literature, there is a paucity of research on how the firm’s core capabilities support and enable IS/IT service co-production. In response to this research gap and in order to consider and elevate the level of firm’s service co-production efforts, this study explores the role of project team’s core IS capabilities throughout the IS/IT service co-production lifecycle stages. This study adopts a ‘qualitative multiple case study’ approach to address its research objective. Based on within and crosscase analysis of three case studies of IS/IT service co-production, this study presents C²SLC - as a matrix model of core IS capabilities and co-production characteristics across four IS/IT service lifecycle stages, namely: planning, provisioning, operation and enhancement. This matrix model (C²SLC) reveals the study’s research outcomes that highlight the significant roles played by six core IS capabilities (out of nine) throughout the different stages of the IS/IT service co-production lifecycle. The study contributes to both theory and practice by focusing on the co-production lifecycle stages, highlighting key characteristics of co-production as well as the core IS capabilities and examines their importance during IS/IT service co-production. Furthermore, the study’s matrix model (C²SLC) illustrates how these core IS capabilities enable such co-production and may inform firms who are looking to enhance their in-house capabilities within a particular lifecycle stage of IS/IT service co-production. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10468/3861 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/3524 'I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler, I'm a long way from home': exploring participation through music and digital design in dementia care Morrissey, Kellie People with dementia (PWD) living in care are a population commonly termed as ‘vulnerable’, and whose challenging life situations are often described in the literature as being a part of a ‘burden’, both on the part of their families and larger society. The difficult circumstances faced by PWD are often compounded by moving into care, where they can face loneliness, social isolation, and a lack of meaningful experiences. With many millions of people living with the condition worldwide, as well as a lack of available and effective pharmaceutical treatment for dementia, there have been increasing calls for the ‘problem’ of dementia to be addressed through psycho-social pathways, with technological design implicated as one of these. However, the vast majority of extant design research in dementia has focused on alleviating the cognitive problems that come with the condition, leading to a lack of design research that explores experiential aspects of living with dementia. This thesis presents the findings and insights from a three year long, in-depth participatory project carried out in three dementia care settings in the south of Ireland that explored how people with dementia can participate within creative (music) sessions, and how this participation can be folded into an ongoing design process to result in a rich and multi-authored account of experience, as well as in meaningful design processes and objects. This thesis contributes to design research, in particular to experience-centred design approaches, and positions these contributions within the context of their potential when practiced in communities of care. The work outlines an ethnographically-informed design approach which, in this thesis, responds to human potential and creative imagination, and which is realised in an analytic account of an unfolding design process carried out with communities of people with dementia living in care. In particular, the approach describes the potential for design and design processes to be creative and expressive for a population often denied a sense of agency through aspects of living in care settings, as well as through a medicalization of the condition of dementia that persists in the literature surrounding designing for and with this population. The thesis outlines how ethnographic (and later, participatory action research) approaches contribute opportunities for very different community members (e.g., PWD, researchers, artists, carers, nurses – and more) to come together in a process of co-inquiry that utilizes multiple forms of creative imagination and communication. In this thesis, this was achieved through an unfolding process of learning concerning the potential of embodied communication in dementia care and design. The work positions embodied communication as a fruitful way to access and understand the lived experience of participants whose verbal abilities may have waned, but whose ability for communication and expression is still present in alternative ways (such as eye contact, touch, movement, vocalisation, informal chat, gesture, song, and dance), and evidence this with data from my fieldwork. The thesis includes an account of the development and introduction of a design object (SwaytheBand), the creative (and embodied) use of which helps to make visible certain social and communicative processes by participants, and which itself leads to a novel account of creative, spontaneous participation in dementia. Ultimately, the thesis provides a rich analytic account of ways in which people with dementia can communicate and participate within design processes in ways that have not yet been articulated in the design literature surrounding design in dementia, and, positioning itself within this larger literature, indicates a number of ways in which a body of research concerned with the experience and participation of people with dementia may proceed. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10468/3524 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/3891 Alternative materials for flexible transparent conductive electrodes Lordan, Daniel This thesis investigates new alternative materials for flexible transparent electrodes: monolayer graphene and micron-scale metal mesh structures. Growth of graphene on copper foils by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) was investigated by commissioning and developing a CVD system in Tyndall. Initial growth runs resulted in poor graphene coverage. Several routes for growth improvement were examined: an acid pre-treatment, substrate geometry and growth pressure. Following this improvement, a continuous growth run was carried out displaying high monolayer graphene coverage. Graphene was transferred to Si/SiO2 (90 nm thermal oxide) and glass substrates using a wet chemical transfer process. This process involves the use of a polymer which acts as a support mechanism. However, polymer residue can have drastic effects on the electrical performance of CVD graphene films. Therefore an alternative method for polymer removal with the use of heated acetone (~ 60 oC) was investigated. Micron-scale platinum mesh structures were fabricated on rigid glass substrates using a range of metal deposition techniques; metal evaporation and lift-off; ALD and dry etching and sputter deposition and dry etching. Square, hexagonal, circular and a new asymmetric pentagonal tiling were utilised as metal meshes. Their performance were investigated along with the metal deposition technique. Evaporation and lift-off provided the most consistent technique in relation to transparency, haze and sheet resistance. Finally, asymmetric pentagonal platinum meshes were fabricated on flexible transparent substrates using metal evaporation and lift-off. All designs were bent around a radius of curvature (in air) of ~ 3.8 mm up to 1,000 bending cycles for both tension and compression and suggested good performance in comparison to literature. All three designs were used as transparent heaters via Joule heating. All heaters demonstrated good thermal characteristics such as low response times and high thermal resistances. Finally, a pentagonal metal mesh was used to de-ice a glass substrate. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10468/3891 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z